Bison topic of lecture on Feb. 26

YAKIMA – Yakima Val-ley Community College history instructor Dr. Ken Zontek will be presenting a special lecture on America’s bison in the Parker room at YVCC’s Yakima campus on Wednesday, Feb. 26.

The presentation, part of the college’s free lecture series, will describe the efforts that saved the buffalo from extinction and subsequent leadership by Native Americans to save the iconic species as a free ranging animal.

Zontek will shed light on the pivotal role played by Native Americans, women and Westerners as opposed to the Eastern elite. The lecture will frame bison restoration in the larger context of species restoration in the modern American West.

Zontek’s authored Buffalo Nation (University of Nebraska Press, 2007), which won the American Library Association’s Best of the Best University Press Award in 2008. The book captures the results of field work ranging from the Northwest Territories to New Mexico, and years of research.

Zontek has written several articles and reviews concerning wildlife and Native Americans. Previous lecture venues include the Smithsonian, Museum of the American Bison and American Bison Society.